Adeptus Windy City

Orcs and Dwarfs, to the Death!

Orcs and Dwarfs, to the Death!

Posted: Sat Jun 09, 2012 7:12 pm

by BaronDeSade

THE battle for Erebor had been won by the Dwarfs, but at great cost. The King Under the Mountain, Dain Ironfoot, lay even now in the stone tomb his grieving subjects had cut for him. The armies of Rhun and Dol Guldor had been smashed, and the approaches to the mountain kingdom were choked with the bodies of Easterlings and Orcs, but the Dwarfs knew that now was not the time for rest. Even now, the dark things that dwelt in Mirkwood would be recovering their strength, and so four warbands of Dwarfs set out to wreak bloody vengeance on the Orcs of Dol Guldur!

Two Dwarf captains there were, along with the King's Champion himself, as well as the King's Shieldbearer, all of them with bloody minds filled with a thirst for vengeance for their slain king. It was not long after entering Mirkwood that the foe emerged to meet them. Black Orcs, the strongest of their kind, clad in the heavy armor of the dread Black Guard, beat their shields and roared out a challenge to the Dwarfs. Men in armor of dark steel, wrapped in the cloaks of the Black Numenorians, raised their jagged-edged swords and hissed out a wordless challenge. Behind all of these foes came a warband of Orcs, led by Kardush the Firecaller, an evil-minded Orc Shaman. Between the Black Orcs and the Men of Numenor stood the silent, towering figure of one of the Castellans of Dol Guldur, a cloaked wraith in heavy armor bearing a tainted longsword in its right hand and a Morgul blade in its left.

There would be no quarter in this battle. It would truly be, “To the Death!”

Seeing the foe, the Dwarfs consolidated their lines and fell back a bit to give their archers the opportunity to shoot. The evil force responded by advancing, with Kardush exhorting the Orcs around him into a killing rage and the drummer of the Black Guard beating a fierce tattoo on his instrument that had the Black Orcs charging forward with bloodlust. Even so, before the forces of Evil could close, two Orcs and a Black Guardsman had been felled by Dwarven arrows.

As the Orcs charged forward, the wicked Khardush launched a fireball that scorched one of the Dwarf captains, burning his once-fine beard completely off of his face. Howling with rage and pain, the singed captain led a furious counter-charge that left three Black Guardsmen, two Numenorians and an Orc dead, and even wounded the mighty Captain of the Black Guard, all while the Dwarfs had taken no casualties of their own. Without a doubt, the first round of combat was a crushing blow against Evil!

On the left flank, the Black Numenorian Marshal did his best to consolidate his lines as he found himself suddenly outnumbered. Between their heavy armor and their aura of terror that left some of the Dwarfs frozen and unable to attack, their line held. On the right flank, Khardush slavered at the idea of being able to slay the Dwarf captain with a second fireball, but despite his eager sacrifice of an unwilling Orc to Sauron, he could not get the magic to work again. This time, although one Orc was slain, the Black Guard brought down two of the Dwarfs and injured their other captain. Although hardly as successful as the Good force's initial attack, Evil was fighting back!

Despite a frenzy of sacrificing, Khardush could not summon any more fire, a sure sign that Sauron had withdrawn his favor from the Shaman. Three Dwarfs fell in combat, as did a Black Numenorian and a Black Orc, along with a common Orc and, most painful for the force of Evil, the Black Guard Captain. The Dwarfs had now widened their advantage and stood on the cusp of breaking the Orcs.

In the center of the battlefield, a strange duel had developed between the Castellan and the Dwarf Shieldbearer. The armored wraith had stabbed at the Dwarf with his Morgul blade, only to see the weapon shatter on his foe's shield. The Dwarf struck back with his ax, but the wraith seemed immune to his blows. Finally, after repeated batterings, the Castellan's longsword finally pierced the stout Dwarf's defenses and delivered a fatal blow.

For the Orcs, the end was nigh. Khardush's fire failed yet again, and the Dwarfs finally smashed the Orcish line, breaking their force. Although the hoarsely-shouted commands of the Black Numenorian Marshal kept the Orcs in line for a time, there was no way to stop the Dwarf attack now. The King's Champion broke through their line and executed Khardush, gaining a sigh of relief on both sides. The standard bearer of the Black Guard was cut down in combat, his banner falling to the ground like a crashing black kite. Although the Orcs won a few small victories, as they cut down the now-beardless Dwarf captain and the Castellan slew one of the Dwarf banner-bearers, those few Orcs that were not cut down in the last part of the battle dropped their weapons and ran. Vengeance had been satisfied!

Props to Gary on his victory over my Orcs. He had much better luck with his dice in this game than in his last one against me, although still not “good luck” by any stretch of the imagination, and he had taken my advice and formed his Dwarf warbands into “combined arms” groups that had a mixture of shooting and melee rather than groups focused on a single task. I could have designed my army much better, and that first round of combat, where I lost six of my troops while inflicting no casualties, was very, very hard to recover from, especially as I had lost three warriors to arrows already. I expected more from the Black Guard, given that they had excellent armor, fighting skill that was the match of the Dwarfs, and the strength to cut through Dwarf armor, but they very much disappointed me.

Ah well, back to the army-design board!

Cheers,

BdS

Re: Orcs and Dwarfs, to the Death!

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2012 1:29 am

by Gartl

I liked the "with a sigh of relief from both sides". Your orcs couldn't have had much love for Kardush the way he was cutting them down left and right! Another fun game. Thanks!

Re: Orcs and Dwarfs, to the Death!

Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2012 1:11 am

by BaronDeSade

I, myself, had little love for Khardush after failing so many attempts to cast Flameburst successfully. I think that I rolled snakeyes twice in two turns, no? Truly "The 'Dush" is hated by friend and foe alike!